Trackage for toy railroads



Feb. 18, 1941. M. CARUSO TRACKAGE FOR TOY RAILROADS Filed May l2, 1959 .UMLI

will 1 Qd N $3 INVENTOR R Marzo Caruso ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 18, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Mario Caruso, Maplewood, N. J., assignor to The Lionel Corporation, New York, N. Y., .a corporation of New York Application May 12., 1939, Serial No. 273,246

'llclaima The present invention relates to trackage for toy railroads, and is more particularly directed toward providing toy railroads with interchangeable trackage units or sections wherein the rails are supported throughout their entire length by insulating bases, and wherein the units or sections are susceptible of quick attachment and detachment which eiects mechanical interlocking as well as electrical connection between the power and track rails.

The present invention contemplates toy trackage units having insulating bases grooved to receive inverted U-shape sheet metal rails, and wherein the rails are an hored to the bases by current conducting elements which may be connected to suitable terminals at the ends of the trackage units. Certain of these terminals may be adapted to interconnect track rails while others are adopted to interconnect the power rails.

The invention also contemplates providing the bases of the units with lugs adapted to enter recesses to assist in aligning the sections together and certain of the lugs are arranged opposite the power rail contacts to bring about lateral pressure so as t insure good contact in the power line.

Other and further objects will appear as the description proceeds.

The accompanying drawing shows, for purposes of illustrating the present invention, one of the many embodiments in which the invention may take form, it being understood that the drawing is illustrative of the invention rather than limiting the same.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a length of trackage employing two interconnected track units and a third disconnected unit;

Figure 2 is an inverted plan view of two trackage units joined together:

Figures 3 and 4 are cross sectional views on the lines 3--3 and 4 4 of Figure 1 showing the arrangements for connecting the track unit into an external circuit and securing coupling contacts to the rail; and

Figure 5 is a cross sectional view on the line 5--5 of Figure 1 showing current connections between track rails.

The trackage units embodying the present invention may be conveniently made up to have asingle molded insulating base I0 which extends the entire length of the unit. It may have sloping side walls II and a flat top wall I2 provided with raised elements Ii to simulate cross ties.

(Cl. 23S-40) "I'he upper surface of the molded insulating body is provided with three grooves I4, I5 and I8 which extend from end to end of the base. Near the ends of the base these grooves communicate with openings I 1 which extend through tothe 6 bottom of the base.

The rails are indicated at I 8, I9 and 28. They are formed of lengths of sheet metal folded to U-shape and received in the grooves I4, I5 and I8. The rails receive T-shaped anchorage meml0 bers 2I which extend down through the holes I1. The upper edge of these anchorage members are provided with notches 22 and 23 adapted to receive L-shaped pins 24, as shown in Figure 5. These pins may be placed so as to provide an exll posed connecting pin, as indicated at 25, or they may be inserted in both the power and track rails and reversed as shown at the left of Figure 5. In either case these pins act as spacers to definitely locate the top of the rail relative to the 20 anchorage member. The rails are secured to the anchorage member by squeezing in a portion of the sheet metal, as shownI at 26, Figure 5.

The anchorage members 2| for the track rails extend down through the holes I1 in the insulat- 25 ing base and are upset onto conducting strips 21 and 28. These strips are arranged so that the short conducting strip 21 at one end of the track unit has a hump 21 to engage a spring tip 28 on the end of the longer conducting element 28 30 which projects beyond the end of the base, as will be clear in Figures 1 and 2.

The anchorage members 2| for the center or power rail extend down through the base and are upset onto conducting strips 29. 'I'hese con- 35 ducting strips are bent to form diagonally disposed spring contacts 38 which extend beyond the end of the insulating base and are laterally flexible.

The insulating base has on each end a longi- 40 tudinally extending lug 32 adapted to enter a recess 33 formed in the corresponding end of an adjacent section. It will be noted that these lugs are placed near the extreme side edges of the bases of the trackage units. The trackage units 45 are also provided with lugs 34 extending beyond the ends of the base and adapted to enter under the opposite end of the adjacent trackage unit. The pairs of lugs 32 and 34 of each end of each unit are vspaced so as to be on opposite sides of 50 the long conducting elements 28.

When the two track sections or 'units are brought to the position shown at the left of Figure 2, it is apparent that the camming surfaces 34 of the lugs will engage the bent ends of the 58 springs 30, and will move these springs toward one another. When the parts are brought to the position shown at the right of Figure 1, or at the left of Figure 2, the springs 30 are compressed and wiped past one another so as to insure contact. The bent ends of the springs enter into notches 34T in the lugs 34, thereby effecting secure interlock of the parts.

In order to provide for the connection of the trackage units to an outside source of power, or to signals, or the like, the trackage units may be provided with conducting strips 40 and 4| secured on the under face of the insulating base. The central rail is electrically connected with the strip 4| by a lug 42 similar to the anchorage lug 2|, while the track rails I8 and 20 are connected to the conducting strip 40 by anchorage devices 43 similar to the anchorage devices 2|. The ends of the strips 40 and 4| are provided with binding screws 44. Where connection is to be made to one only of the two track rails, as, for example, for signalling control, only one of the anchorage lugs 43 would be used.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the track sections provided are well adapted to provide a continuous roadbed for toy electric railroads, and that the units or sections may be readily interlocked by simply pushing them together so that all electrical and mechanical connections are made.

It is obvious that theinvcntion may be embodied in many forms and 'constructions within the scope of the claims and I wish it to be understood .that the particular form shown is but one of the-many forms. Various modifications and changes being possible, I do not otherwise limit myself in any way with respect thereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A trackage unit for toy railroads comprising an insulating base having a longitudinally extending upwardly opening groove, a sheet metal track rail of inverted U-shaped cross section disposed in the groove and extending above the groove, anchoring lugs secured inside the U- shaped track rail and extending `through slots in the base, the slots being aligned with and interr-upting the groove, and apertured plates below the base through which the lugs extend and against which they are upset.

2. A trackage unit for toy railroads as in claim 1, wherein the upper faces of the anchoring lugs are notched, and having L-shaped members with the short ends in the notches, the other or longer ends extending along the top of the corresponding lug and engaging the inside of the rail to space the rail above the lugs.

3. A trackage unit for toy railroads as in claim l, wherein one of the anchoring lugs adjacent an end of the unit has a notch in its upper face, and an L-shaped rod whose short end is anchored in said notch and whose long end extends out through the end of the rail to form a connecting pin for aligning the corresponding rail of another unit.

4. A trackage unit for toy railroads as in claim 1, wherein the plate at one end has a downwardly depressible tip extending beyond the end of the base and the plate at the other end has a hump to cooperate with 'the depress'ble tip ofthe plate on the other end of a corresponding unit.

5. A trackage unit for toy railroads as in claim 1, wherein the anchoring .lugs have apertured T- shaped heads extending beyond the slots to fit the bottom of the groove, and the material of the rail is pressed into Ithe aperture.

6. A trackage unit for toy railroads as in claim 1, wherein the plates adjacent the ends of lthe units have spring contact members extending beyond .the ends of the base and disposed diagonally with respect to the plane through the ends of the rails.

7. A trackage unit for toy electric railroads comprising an insulating base having a vertical end wall in a single plane adapted to abut a similar end wall of another similar unit and provided at each end with a longitudinally extending guiding lug below the level of the vertical end wall and with downwardly opening recesses adapted to receive guiding lugs of adjacent' trackage units to maintain lateral alignment of the trackage units.

8. A trackage unit lor toy electric railroads as in claim 7, wherein each end is also provided with a second ,longitudinally extending lug adapted to enter under the end of the adjacent trackage unitt 9. Toy electric trackage comprising two .track units assembled end to end, each unit having an insulating base, a power rail on the upper surface thereof, a laterally yieldable spring contact below the base, connected to the corresponding power rail, and extending beyond the end of the .track unit for engagement with a substantially duplicate contact on the other unit, and a base carried contact engaging element engageablc with the outer face of the contact of the other unit to press .the contacts together.

10. Toy electric trackage as in claim 9, wherein the contact engaging elements are notched to fit bent portions of the contacts and hold the unilts against separation.

11. Toy electric trackage comprising a plurality of insulating bases having vertical end walls in a single plane in abutting relation, longitudinally extending track rails and a power rail carried thereby and terminating at the ends of the bases, pairs of aligning lugs carried at the ends of the bases and received in downwardly opening recesses in the ends of the bases to align the bases, the lugs on each base being disposed to one side of the power rail and spaced apart, a spring contact on each base in the space between the lugs thereof and connected to the track rail above the same, cooperative xed contacts on the other base, each connected to a track rail whereby the track rails are electrically connected to form a continuous conduct-or, and a spring contact carried by the base and extending beyond each end of the base and connected to the power rail carried thereby, the adjacent spring contacts having wiping contact as the lugs enter the recesses and engaging the adjacent lug of the other base to be laterally supported thereby.

MARIO CARUSO. 

